A running clock usually isn’t a part of state lacrosse semifinal, but Westfield senior Meghan Heick was operating on her own time Tuesday night against Battlefield. It didn’t matter what the pacing was. She scored on fast breaks. She scored on cuts. She even scored when the Bulldogs seemed to be trying to milk the clock and protect their large lead.

A week after she played a pivotal role in her team’s 6A North region semifinal upset of Madison, the Virginia-bound Heick was sensational in the Virginia 6A state semifinals, scoring seven goals as Westfield cruised to a 18-6 win over host Battlefield in Haymarket.

“We were all really surprised,” Heick said of jumping on Battlefield so early. “We were all just so excited to play again. We all clicked together. We knew we could do it.”

It took a little more than an hour for Westfield (17-3) to make quick work of the Bobcats (13-6), who after cutting their deficit to 4-2 in the opening three minutes, were never in striking distance again. Heick had her fourth goal by the 17-minute mark to make it 7-2 and added two more with five minutes left in the half to put Westfield up by nine and fully in control. Westfield led 14-3 at half and allowed three second-half goals in the game’s final five minutes.

Battlefield struggled trying to adjustto the ball movement of the Bulldogs, and then there was the speed of Heick. She was a dual-sport athlete this spring — she ran in the 6A state track meet for the Bulldogs 4x100 relay team in a fourth-place finish last weekend — and she tailored her schedule so she could compete in both.

“With lacrosse it just worked better if I did sprinting. I worked on sprints at practice for lacrosse, so I could go to track meets,” Heick said. “It would just correlate.”

The objective for Westfield on Tuesday was to rebound from its 6A North region final loss to Oakton last week, its second to the Cougars this season — and a win meant putting the Bulldogs in position for another shot at their rivals in the state championship game Saturday.

“Overall I think it was a bounce-back game for us — a rebound game from the hard loss that we had in the region championship,” Westfield Coach Kate Ruch said. “They were motivated, they wanted to get to that championship game and possibly face Oakton again.”

OAKTON 17, OSBOURN PARK 10: In the other 6A semifinal, the Cougars beat the Yellow Jackets behind four goals and two assists from Danielle Palmucci.

Oakton (16-2) advanced to the state final to face Westfield, which will mark the fourth meeting between the teams this season. The Cougars have won the past two.

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